Library tip of the day

Da Library
Krauth Memorial Library

Yesterday morning, after waking up from a NiteQuil induced sleep, I woke up, found the fitness room, and slowly worked out to try and wake myself up. It tends to take me hours to recover from a nitequil dose but I do what I need to do to be able to breathe while I recover from a cold. Once I finally woke up, I realized I had a few hours to kill so I did what any good seminary student would do. I went to the library and photocopied some of the pre-reading I need to do for Old Testament I.

Before I left NYC, a friend of mine told me his experience of graduate school – “As an undergrad, I had all the time but none of the study skills. As a grad, I had all the skills but none of the time.” I really am finding this out to be true. I’m taking initiative, meeting professors, figuring things out, and trying to crank out papers and reading as soon as possible. My younger self would not recognize me today.

As an engineering student, I never spent time in the library. I never really wandered the stacks, look for research books, photocopy material, or anything of that sort. All I needed was one book, the professor, a TA, and my computer. But everything is brand new now. I wandered around the Krauth Library, a beautiful building built before electricity was wide spread. The floors are translucent to allow sunlight from above to filter through to the basement. The stain glass windows inside are amazing. But it is a maze in there. And their copy machine can be temperamental. But I did learn something while using it.

When I wanted to scan two pages, I used the ledger setting which costs 20 cents a page. But I didn’t need to do that. A legal sized piece of paper works for most two page spreads from books and those only cost 10 cents. To select the legal option, press the “manual feed location” on the screen and save yourself a few pennies. I spent four dollars on copies – more than my entire copy budget for the last decade. Nickels and dime man, nickels and dimes.